Amid talk of war with Iraq and continued military action in Afghanistan, about 80 members of an elite California National Guard special forces unit have been told to get ready to ship out for a secret mission overseas.
The deployment of the 19th Special Forces Group, which has headquarters in Redwood City and Los Alamitos and includes members from Sacramento, was ordered last week. The soldiers may ship out within a week.
No one will say where the soldiers are being sent, with officials citing the need for secrecy.
"We have approximately 80 members of Team Alpha, Fifth Company, 19th Special Forces who have been activated to support Operation Enduring Freedom," said Capt. Denise Varner, a California National Guard spokeswoman. "They will be deploying soon for a classified destination."
Varner said members of the unit are "revving up now, preparing personal items, legal issues and health issues, and will be departing soon."
Previous deployments of soldiers from the 19th Special Forces Group saw its East Coast teams involved in fighting in Afghanistan, and two members have been killed there.
Sgt. Gene Arden Vance Jr. of the West Virginia National Guard was killed in action last April in eastern Afghanistan when his unit came under heavy fire. Sgt. 1st Class Daniel A. Romero of Colorado also died last April in an accidental explosion at a demolition range next to the former home of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-time leader of the Taliban who vanished from sight after the war began.
Special forces soldiers also have been helping to train Afghan military units, but officials said that was no indication the California soldiers would be heading there.
Instead, with the uncertainty about whether the United States is headed toward war with Iraq, "they could be going anywhere," one official said.
The California special forces unit is composed of 12-man "A teams" that can be split into smaller groups "tailored for specific and unique missions," according to a Guard description.
"The group possesses a wide range of special skills and talents, including airborne, medic, engineer, communications, weapons and intelligence," the Guard description says. They can, the description says, "take a force of 500 Afghan troops and shape them into a guerrilla force of battalion strength."
Maj. Frank Cuffe, the unit's commander, could not be reached for comment Monday.
But military supporters in the Bay Area already are scheduling a two-day fund-raising effort they hope will raise at least $1 million to help offset the losses in income the soldiers will face by leaving their civilian jobs.
"We saw there was a need to help support the soldiers that are being activated," said former Army Ranger Capt. Dan Rice, who is now a financial adviser. "The cost of living in Northern California makes deployment very challenging financially.
"Soldiers that make $100,000 make $35,000 once they're deployed. Their family stays in the same high cost-of-living area with the same mortgage."
Organizers of the fund-raisers are planning a $1,000-a-plate black tie dinner in San Francisco on Oct. 5, with another effort the next day aboard the USS Hornet that will cost $25 for adults and $10 for children under 12.
Details about the events are available online at the Web site www.operationenduringsupport.com , Rice said. Supporters who will be present include Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson. The Web site is expected to be updated later this week to include an order form for tickets, he said.
Rice said organizers also plan to invite Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and his Republican opponent, Bill Simon, to draw attention to the financial burden facing Guard members who have been deployed in operations linked to the war on terror.
"We've been told that the gap between civilian pay and military deployment pay is $100 million for the California National Guard," Rice said.
One study done for the Guard in 1998 found that soldiers who are activated for service see their household income cut anywhere between 16 percent and 65 percent, creating a serious financial blow to many.
For the 11 percent of the Guard members who reported incomes then over $70,000 annually, the potential lost earnings for a yearlong deployment could total $3.7 million, the study found.
"This potential loss of income, disruption of lifestyles, and interruption to continuing education plans become a serious impediment to recruitment and retention as the likelihood of federal activation increases," the study found.
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